<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>crying, hugging, becoming stronger by icedhotchocolate</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26262286">crying, hugging, becoming stronger</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/icedhotchocolate/pseuds/icedhotchocolate'>icedhotchocolate</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Chapter 1 Spoilers, Chapter 4 Spoilers, Fluff, Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort, I always write angst for them oops, M/M, god they deserve the world, i lauv them, kiibo actually cries, singing challenge 😃, thats right people he can cry in this one, yeAH YEAH</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 04:27:38</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>668</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26262286</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/icedhotchocolate/pseuds/icedhotchocolate</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>each death hit harder than the last, but at least they had each other to get through the mess.</p>
<p>aka another sad saiibo fic because fuck me</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>K1-B0/Saihara Shuichi</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>52</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>crying, hugging, becoming stronger</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It wasn’t fair.</p>
<p>Why would Kaede do this!?</p>
<p>Why would she sacrifice herself for everyone?</p>
<p>She’s too good. Too nice.</p>
<p>Shuichi is too cruel.</p>
<p>He uncovered the truth behind his friend, but at what cost?</p>
<p>He saved everyone. But sometimes he wishes he didn’t.</p>
<p>Kaede was a hero.</p>
<p>He was a coward.</p>
<p>And now he paid back in tears.</p>
<p>Endless drops falling from his face.</p>
<p>The soft recorded piano playing from the CD Player.</p>
<p>If only she had played the song for him.</p>
<p>Suddenly, the door creaked behind him.</p>
<p>The small robot boy, who he wasn’t quite close with yet, stood in the doorframe.</p>
<p>“I thought I heard somebody up and about! How are you feeling, Shuichi?”</p>
<p>So caring. Just like her.</p>
<p>Shuichi turned around, revealing swollen, puffy eyes and red cheeks.</p>
<p>So ugly. Not like him.</p>
<p>The boy scurried up to Shuichi, and embraced him in a hug.</p>
<p>He paused, before melting into the touch.</p>
<p>He didn’t know him very well, but he felt so warm.</p>
<p>So comforting.</p>
<p>“I may not relate to what emotions you might me experiencing, but I am always here to learn and assist!”</p>
<p>Despite tears still flowing, a small smile formed.</p>
<p>So considerate.</p>
<p>“Thank you, Kiibo.”</p>
<p>The music continued to sing as they sat in silence, wrapped in each other’s arms.</p>
<p>———</p>
<p>Kiibo wished he had never taken off the headset.</p>
<p>He should’ve stayed in the virtual reality, where everything was fine.</p>
<p>Where Miu was simply frozen and lagging, rather than dead in the computer room.</p>
<p>Miu wasn’t the most polite. She was bold and brash and inappropriate.</p>
<p>But she knew how to care for him well, even if it was sometimes uncomfortable.</p>
<p>Under that exterior, she wanted to help Kiibo. Help him become more human.</p>
<p>But robots could be repaired. Humans could not.</p>
<p>The trial had been a blur, Kiibo could hardly focus.</p>
<p>Even after the execution, one of the most brutal yet, hadn’t phased him.</p>
<p>He stared ahead, into nothingness.</p>
<p>He wanted to cry. </p>
<p>No, now isn’t the time.</p>
<p>Kiibo wanted to show his classmates that robots could be hopeful.</p>
<p>Robots could be strong.</p>
<p>Robots could be useful.</p>
<p>The act was dropped, however, later that night.</p>
<p>Kiibo sat in the grass, watching the stars shine.</p>
<p>Stars don’t weep when their friends burn out.</p>
<p>So neither should he.</p>
<p>Too late. He’s already crying.</p>
<p>The fact that Miu had installed that function wasn’t helping either.</p>
<p>Time felt like it had stopped as artificial tears ran down artificial skin.</p>
<p>Plastic and metal.</p>
<p>He almost didn’t notice the sound of steps trickling down the paved path.</p>
<p>“Kiibo? Are you out here?”</p>
<p>Shuichi?</p>
<p>Kiibo turned, eyes glowing wide.</p>
<p>Shuichi smiled, before frowning at the sight of the expression on Kiibo’s face.</p>
<p>Artificial. Not real.</p>
<p>“I was looking all over for you. Do you want to talk?”</p>
<p>The detective sat down in the slightly dampened grass next to him.</p>
<p>They had grown closer over time, which made Kiibo happy.</p>
<p>It was always nice to have someone care for you.</p>
<p>Especially as much as Shuichi did.</p>
<p>“Not at the moment. I suppose I’m just what humans call ‘mourning’...”</p>
<p>He felt an arm wrap around him. He felt a little better from the touch.</p>
<p>“I know what you mean. After all, you were with me after Kaede... well...”</p>
<p>Shuichi looked down. Kiibo wiped some tears off his face.</p>
<p>His eyes didn’t get puffy. He supposed that was a good thing.</p>
<p>“That was not very long ago. So much has happened in the last few weeks,”</p>
<p>Kiibo laid his head on the other’s shoulder. </p>
<p>“Don’t worry, we’re gonna get out of here. I’ll make sure we do,” Shuichi reassured.</p>
<p>So caring. Just like her.</p>
<p>“Thank you, Shuichi. You’ve assisted me plenty during our time here,”</p>
<p>Kiibo shifted his weight, and went from lying on his shoulder to hugging Shuichi.</p>
<p>The boy returned the affection, and they sat in the grass.</p>
<p>Tears fell from time to time, but that didn’t matter.</p>
<p>They had each other, and that was all they needed.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I just finished chapter 5, and I am TERRIFIED as to what might happen to kiibo. He does everything for these people and all he gets is robophobia wtf &gt;:(((</p>
<p>anyways uhh ty for reading! I should probably stop writing so much angst for these two but writing fics at midnight puts me in my feels 😔</p>
<p>dw I’ll write something wholesome at some point just give me ideas !!</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>